To develop a simple method to determine the degree of substitution (dS) for starch ester, we prepared starch acetate with various dS values (0—3) and examined the mode of starch-iodine complex formation for the starch acetate by monitoring the ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectra and their Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectral changes. The effect of acetylation on the formation of the starch-iodine complex was investigated by monitoring the decrease in absorbance at 680 nm (blue value). The blue value decreased by increasing the standard dS value determined by NMR for starch acetate, but two different correlations between the blue values and the dS values were observed for the low- and highly-substituted starch acetate. The FT-IR spectra for starch acetate particles were measured using a diffuse reflection method. The peak areas and absorbances of the bands assigned to the acetyl group showed a poor correlation with standard dS values from the NMR. On the other hand, the FT-IR peaks assigned to sodium acetate produced by saponification of the starch acetate could be detected using the ATR (attenuated total reflection) method; they showed a good correlation with the standard dS values from the NMR. From these results, it was concluded that the ATR method should be available for the dS determination of starch acetate.